Labyrinth of the Gargarath
by Chiliblue
Summary: About a month after the defeat of Queen Chrysalis, a strange unicorn awakens in a hospital bed, finding himself in an unknown world of talking magical ponies. On top of that, an anchent evil is awakening in Equestria, and this strange unicorn is Equestria's only hope for peace.
1. On Board the Destroyer

**A/N:** This first chapter doesn't have any MLP:FiM content in it, but it is important story-wise

**WARNING!**

Mild Language

* * *

I was sitting on the box marked "AK-47", identifying the type of weapons and ammunition that was held inside. Five other marines, myself being the sixth, and a couple of engineers were surrounding a small plug-in heater to escape the cold of the berthing room. I had my arms on my knees, holding a half empty bottle of alcohol. I listened to them share stories of them fighting within this horrid war.

"BOOM!" Isaac, a tall black skinned guy with large muscles, shouted out to the others, they all jumped a bit and laughed; I just sat and looked into the heater. "There was nothing left of that enemy jet! It was all scrap; I watched its pieces fall into the ocean!"

He took pride in taking down that jet, I watched it make a hard turn to the right and saw him take it down with a direct hit to its hull yesterday.

"Truly amazing! I wish I was there to see it!" said one engineer named bobby, he was a rather thin guy, but wasn't without muscle. His muscles were reasonably big, but lean enough to move around well, allowing him to move around well in the ship's hull when he worked. "Too bad I'm stuck down here all day." I then felt his eyes turn towards me, even if I didn't see it, I always seemed to know whenever someone was looking at me. "Hey, Allard, why don't you ever speak?"

I ignored him, keeping my gaze on the plug-in heater, my arms remaining on my lap, without much movement.

"Hey Allard, Bobby was speaking to you."

I ignored again.

"Allard!"

Still no answer, Isaac was starting to get angry.

"Talk back to me you piece of shit!"

I then looked up at him and saw him getting frustrated.

Isaac was frustrated enough now that he looked as if he's about to attack me, I could sense it. He took a step forward but was interrupted from his actions.

"Hey! C'mon!" Another voice stepped in and put a hand on Isaac's chest to stop him from coming any closer. The woman looked over at Isaac, she wasn't exactly a young woman, she had a few grey hairs, and her hair was mainly black, however. "Stop it, you know better."

I saw the nasty look he gave her, he was obviously annoyed with me ignoring him, and he hated it when people ignored him, but the words he said next struck me hard.

"You're protecting him? He's nothing but a lonely jackass without any friends and family, what do you care about him for?"

Without thinking, I just suddenly stood up and jolted towards him, an angry look on my face. My sudden action shocked everyone in the room. I was, however, stopped forcefully when I felt the woman's other hand on my chest, I saw him jolt towards me but he, too, was prevented from coming forward by her hand.

"Stop it! Both of you!" She said out loud. "You're acting like little kids! Why don't we all just calm down and get to bed? It's getting late and we have a long day tomorrow."

We had everyone's attention now. I looked into his eyes with an angry look, and he into mine. He then sighed a moment later, giving up.

"Fine," he finally said, "but we're not done."

I was angry and ready to pound his face in, but she was right. This was no time to be fighting among ourselves, especially with the world the way it is now.

He walked away over to his bed, stepping in and laying under his covers. I then turned my eyes over to the woman, I didn't recognize her, nor did I know her name. I then turned and walked away, deciding to walk to my own bed and get under my covers.

The rest of the crew continued talking among themselves for a good hour before going to bed.

It took me a little while to fall asleep, but I managed to with the help of the destroyer's slight, almost unnoticeable, rocking back and forth in the water. I managed to sleep, yes, but it was not a good sleep, and I did not enjoy it, not one bit. It was a nightmarish, very painful sleep. I felt myself in darkness, and my insides felt like they were ready to come out. My belly and chest were just painful, moving around as if something was making room to fit itself inside my body. The pain was so unbearable that I could barely moved, but in this nightmare I felt myself moving my legs against my own will, like I was a puppet being controlled from the inside.

Isaac woke up in the middle of the night; the thunder had woke him up. Luckily, the storm wasn't that bad, the pounding of the rain wasn't enough to be harmful to the destroyer. Wait.

Thunder? Storm? He was asleep for maybe three hours, and the sky was clear without a cloud that day, what was going on? His suspicions changed when he heard slow footsteps. Turning his head to see who was making the footsteps, he saw Allard, out of bed, walking up the stairs towards outside. What was he doing up? For that matter, why was he heading outside?

"Allard?" He said curiously, and got no answer as usual.

This time, however, was different. He didn't know how, but the way he was being ignored was just… different, from how Allard usually acts, at least. His feet lifted himself from his bed as he began to walk towards Allard, but lost sight of him once Allard went out the door. Following Allard, Isaac was soon out the door too. The rain made it hard to see; although, even with limited sight, it was still clear enough to see that Allard had suddenly disappeared.

"Huh?" He quickly looked at his surroundings; nothing was there, nothing at all. "Allard?!"

He was a bit worried. Not exactly for Allard, considering how he was still angry at him from earlier, but he was spooked by his mysterious disappearance. Soon, though, he spotted him. Far to the right from where Isaac stood, in front of the rails on the ship's edge. Isaac's knowledge of Allard lead him to believe that he was about to jump, Isaac always saw Allard as a depressed man who lives for nothing but to fight when needed. The rain and wind made it a bit harder to get to Allard, but he managed to get a bit close before he noticed something in a flash of lightning not far from the ship.

Isaac's eyes widened as he noticed the shape of a creature around Allard's body. No complete details on what he saw, but he did notice wings and two horns, the shape only appeared for two seconds. He finally noticed that Allard was standing on the rails, perfectly balanced.

"NO!" He shouted, about to reach out to pull him down, but he was too late.

Allard jumped, falling off the destroyer and landing hard in the ice cold water, and leaving Isaac just looking down at the water franticly searching in vain for at least a body.


	2. Waking Up in Ponyville

**WARNING**

Mild Language

* * *

"Is he still okay?"

"Yeah, he's still asleep. He's been asleep for a while now, but it's not serious."

I was hearing voices, voices in the darkness of my consciousness. I slowly felt myself waking up, but I was unable to open my eyes, they were so heavy.

"So she said she just suddenly saw him appear in front of her cottage?"

"Yeah, just appeared in a flash of light, unconscious, or so she said."

"Well, he is a unicorn, so, maybe he just messed up a teleportation spell."

"Maybe."

I was finally able to open my eyes. Everything I saw was a blur; but, as my eyes cleared up, I was able to see the image of a room, a hospital room. I also managed to feel a bed under me, much more comfortable than the ones I slept in on the destroyer. Wait a minute… Why am I in a hospital room?! And why wasn't I on the destroyer?!

With my sudden realization I quickly sat up in the bed with wide eyes, but before I could really react to anything, I heard the door move. It was opening, and the sound somewhat comforted me. When the door opened, I expected to see the nurse walk in but, I saw a horse. I was surprised to see a horse walk into a hospital room, but when I examined the horse's features, I was even more surprised. It had a white coat, but it also had a pink mane. A horse with a pink mane? The horse also had on a nurse-like hat with a red cross on it with hearts in the corners.

This was strange for me, this must be a dream, nothing else could explain me being in a hospital room rather than the destroyer, or the strange horse in front of my bed.

"Uh…" I couldn't think of words.

"Oh! You're awake! That's good; I was getting a bit worried."

My eyes widened suddenly, still without words. She spoke! Her voice isn't something you would expect a horse's voice to be like, it was smooth and motherly like. I was starting to freak out just a bit by now.

"Y-You spoke!" I shouted out

She gave me a weird look, as if I was pointing out the obvious and that there was nothing strange about it.

"Um, of course I spoke, why wouldn't I?"

"But you're a horse!" I shouted again.

She then gave me a nasty look, like I insulted her. Her eyes squinted angrily at me and a large frown formed on her face, er, mussel.

"Excuse me?! I am not a horse!"

"But those legs! And mussel!"

"I'm a pony, for your information! Why do you feel the need to insult me?"

"B-but I…"

"You're acting as if you've never seen a pony before."

"Of course I've never seen a pony before!"

"But, YOU are a pony." She says awkwardly.

"Do I LOOK like a pony too you?!"

I crossed my arms, but I soon realized that I couldn't feel a hand there to grasp my arm. I blinked and tried to move my fingers, but I couldn't. It took me a moment to realize that I couldn't even move my hand!

"What the…" I said

I felt the Pony looking at me awkwardly.

I proceeded to feel my arms with my hands; only I couldn't feel my hands at all, it felt like my hands were a flat, hard surface. I brought my hands up and felt my face, it felt different; I was starting to lose it. What was going on? I didn't want to look at my hands, but I did anyway.

I brought my hands in front of my face and looked at them. I had no hands. They were, in fact, hooves that were similar to the pony's hooves, only they were a peach color. I felt my breathing suddenly get heavy.

"What the hell?!" I said out loud, my sudden outburst startling the pony a bit.

I suddenly stood up in my bed, but my legs felt unusual to me, what I could feel as deformed. I instantly lost balance while standing on my legs and tipped over sideways, falling off the side of the bed. I tried to grab the side rail of the bed, but my new hooves only slid off it. I felt my face meet the floor. My body was in an odd position, cheek against the ground and my arms, or forelegs I think, were on the ground too. My legs, hind legs, whatever, were against the bed's side.

The pony just ran over to my side with a worried look.

"Omigosh are you okay?!" She said and tried to help me up.

I tried to grab hold of her, but I couldn't thanks to my hooves. I finally managed to hang one foreleg over her neck and awkwardly stand on the other three.

"Hell no! W-what happened to me?!"

She remained quiet, as if she didn't understand my question.

"I-I need to look in a mirror!"

She simply nodded at what I said and aided me in walking over to the restroom. It took her and I a lot of effort to get over there because of how awkwardly I was walking on the three legs I was on, I kept tripping over them. We managed to get to the bathroom and I instantly sprang off her.

I stood on my hind legs and kept myself up by placing my forelegs up on the sink. I looked into the mirror and didn't see myself. It took me a few moments to realize, that I actually was looking at myself. My skin, or coat, was a peach color, same as my human skin. My hair was the same, too. My dark brown hair with the military buzz cut, eyes still a shiny green. The only thing I didn't understand was this horn on my forehead.

I kept my calm, breathing in and out slowly, thinking, forming my thoughts into words. I avoided the complex questions at the moment, thinking of one that would, hopefully, be a simple one.

"What's with this horn on my head?"

"That's your horn; you are a unicorn after all."

I blinked, looking at it. Okay, I was a horse, or pony, and I was a unicorn. That's what I was managing to piece together. I was freaking out on the inside.

"Why am I a unicorn?"

"Um, maybe because you were born one?" She said with a confused and annoyed look on her face.

I instantly turned my head to her to respond.

"But I'm not-!"

I paused, thinking of what to say now. Considering how she was acting to how I was acting, she didn't understand what I was talking about. I sighed, thinking of another one of my questions.

"Who are you?"

"My name is Nurse Redheart, I was told to take care of you while you were asleep."

Fancy name.

"How long was I out?"

"All day."

I nodded, and then looked at my forelegs. It felt weird, but I pushed from the sink and landed on all fours. I tried to keep balance, but the feeling was too alien to me and I nearly fell over, but Redheart rushed to my side and helped me keep my balance by leaning against my unbalanced side.

"Thanks… How did I get here?"

"A pony came in this morning with you; she said she saw you appear out of nowhere just passed out. She thought you were hurt and took you here."

From that explanation, her casually talking about another pony, I must be in a world made entirely of ponies instead of humans, but it was only a guess. They might not know about humans, well not her at least, or so I thought.

"You still need rest." She said sternly.

I thought it over.

"Yeah, alright."

I didn't argue with her, she was the nurse, after all. I knew it would be best for me to rest and stay in bed for now, at least so I can think about what's going on. I figured that this wasn't a dream the moment I looked into the mirror, so I knew that I needed to approach this situation logically.

She helped me to my bed where I laid under the covers. She knew I needed rest, but not for the same reason that I knew I did. I was still tired, especially after my small episode.

She was about to walk back out the door before she stopped and looked over at me.

"I forgot to ask your name." She said.

I looked up at her and responded.

"Allard."


	3. The Labyrinth

I opened my eyes and a yawn escaped my mouth. Using my arms, I pushed myself up to a sitting position. I realized a familiar feeling in my hands, my HANDS. I kept my position sitting up and raised my hands in front of my face; I saw them, normal as ever. I didn't understand how I was human; I was a pony talking to another pony just a little while ago.

I looked up in front of me, lowering my arms to the ground. I saw a grass field spanning for miles. My legs lifted my to stand on my feet and I took a look at my surroundings; I was in a grass field that went on forever in all directions, disappearing in a thick fog that seemed to be a half mile away. Once I turned around, however, I saw a massive stone wall only a few feet in front of me and my eyes widened in surprise. Had that wall been there the whole time? Couldn't have been… I checked my surroundings, there's no way I would have missed it.

What was even stranger than the sudden appearance of the wall was the fact that I felt… compelled to walk inside, walk inside the giant wall. I saw no doorway or opening or anything that I could walk through, just a big stone wall. Despite how impossible it seemed to walk inside, I shifted my now human feet and walked towards the… giant wall.

I seemed to just pass right through it, like it wasn't even there. On the other side of the wall, I found myself in a large room with a massive door sealed shut, no handles. On the top of the door was some writing I couldn't make out, but I somehow knew what the symbols said.

"_Labyrinth of the Gargarath_" Is what I managed to read.

Labyrinth? Was this the entrance to some sort of maze? I didn't know how I ended up here, but it was the only door here.

Somehow, I knew that I couldn't go back through the wall behind me, so I had to press forward. I walked up to the door and touched where I imagined a handle would be. Once my hand touched the handle-less door, I saw that small part of the door light up a bit, then a wave of darkness and a chilling roar engulfed me and all I saw was darkness and all I felt was pain.

I suddenly sat up in my bed and I felt sweat on my face. Was I dreaming? I looked around the room and I was in that hospital room again. I knew I was in reality this time, if you can call a world full of talking ponies reality. Nurse Redheart was walking into the room just as I had woken up.

"Oh, you're awake, great timing."

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"Well, I told a certain pony about your lack of knowledge of our society, and she jumped at the chance to meet you, so I'm going to take you to her."

"You told me that I had to stay in the hospital."

"Well that was before we knew that you are perfectly healthy, now that we know you're fine, you can go!" She said that last bit with enthusiasm.

"But I still can't walk properly."

"For now you can use a walker, she agreed to teach you everything that you need to know."

I sighed and closed my eyes to think about my answer. Not that I had much of a choice, but I decided to go along with it.

"Fine, I'll go."

"Great! Oh, and she'll also teach you how to use magic and such, seeing as you lack the ability to do that."

"Wait, huh?"

"She'll teach you to use magic."

"What does that have to do with learning about society?"

"You're a unicorn, aren't you?"

"I-" I paused, thinking of my words. That's right, the horn on my forehead. "Um, okay."

"Great, we can actually get you there now, if you like."

"Alright, sounds good."

I had spent a good amount of energy trying to get out of the bed; I ended up falling on the floor again. After a minute, Nurse Redheart had brought me a walker; it looked exactly like the ones where I was from. I knew instantly how to use it, but it took me about ten minutes of trying to get the hang of it.

Nurse Redheart had gotten off work early that and was able to escort me to my destination herself. Despite how I had already figured out that I was in a world of talking ponies, I was still shocked by what I saw in town. I saw ponies, casually walking and trotting around. It was like a small town, or village. I was even more shocked when I saw a couple ponies flying through the air, moving clouds even!

"Looks like the pegasi are planning a rainy day." I heard the nurse pony say.

Despite how much my curiosity and confusion grew with each moment, especially when she talked about pegasi "planning a rainy day", I didn't bother to ask a question, I knew my questions would be answered once I got to my destination.

While I was walking, I also noticed that the ponies staring at me, as if I were some strange figure walking among them, I couldn't help but think they knew who I was; however, it took me a while to realize that they were not looking at a human in a pony body, but at a perfectly healthy male pony walking on a walker. The walker I was using had wheels due to the fact that I couldn't pick anything up with these hooves. I tried to ignore the staring ponies to the best of my ability.

I continued to walk with the walker and I soon saw a large tree, or at least I thought it was a tree. After we got a bit closer I realized that it was a house built into a tree! My guess was changed once again when I saw a sign with a picture of a book on it, this was a library.

"What are we here for?"

"A pony by the name of Twilight Sparkle agreed to take you in and teach you."

"Wait, take me in? I thought she was going to show me how to control this body and help me get home!"

"Trust me, she can help you."

"Alright, fine! But I'm not staying too long!"

We walked up and Nurse Redheart knocked twice on the door, and it was soon answered by… a purple pony with a purple mane and tail, and a pink streak through both. The colors in this world were too bright and shiny for my liking, but if the nurse says she can help, then I trust that she can.

"Hi Twilight, I'm here with the patient. Well, former patient."

"Oh!" I heard the purple pony say. "Well come on in, then."

She turned around and went back inside; I walked in after Redheart did. I saw objects levitating around with a purple glow, moving here and there. Then, I saw the purple unicorn's horn glowing the same color, was this the magic that I was told about?

"So, tell me your name." I heard her say without looking at me as she apparently sketched some notes on a piece of paper.

"Allard." I said simply.

"Allard? That's a weird name." I didn't like that comment, but I was good at ignoring things. "So,

where are you from?"

"That's kind of difficult to say, first tell me where I am."

She then turned and I saw her glare at me if only for a second, then she smiled and answered my question.

"You're in the Ponyville library."

"I see."

"So, where are you from?"

I closed my eyes to think for a moment, where was I from? Well, I lived on a warship representing America; perhaps I should give her the specifics.

"I am a member of the American Navy positioned on the Destroyer: Spartan; number DDG-232, currently located off the coast of Africa."

The both of them just paused and looked at me with a confused look on their faces. From the look of the purple pony, it's apparent that she's not use to being the one not understanding something someone else says.

"Um… what?" I heard Redheart say.

I sighed, of course they wouldn't understand, I didn't really expect them to, but it was worth a shot.

"I'm from America."

"I'm not sure I've heard of that place before. Do you mind if I try out a spell on you?"

Was she talking to me? She's going to try out a spell on me? I didn't know the dangers, or understand the properties, of real magic, and if she's inexperienced in this particular spell, then there's no telling what could happen to me!

"What!? No!" I replied in a somewhat rude tone.

"Come on, please? It could help your situation a lot!"

I thought it over; did I really have a choice? With a brief thought, I sighed once again and I lowered my head in defeat over the walker.

"Fine, do what you need."

She nodded and I lifted my head to watch. Her horn glowed that purple color again and all of a sudden, she aimed it at me and I was engulfed in purple light. I was shocked by the action but I didn't move, knowing that I'd fall if I even attempted to move from the walker. Twilight and Redheart looked to be taking a couple steps back at what they saw.

Soon, the light faded and Twilight quickly turned around, took out a book she had laying on the floor, and used her horn to levitate it in front of her as she sped through the pages.

"Um, what's going on?"

"No, no, no, no, no! Nothing! There's nothing here!" I heard twilight say and I felt Redheart's eyes still on me.

"Hey!"

No answer, so this is what it feels like to be ignored.

"HEY!" I shouted and Twilight jumped and dropped the book, then turned to look at me.

"What's going on?"

"Oh, uh…" I saw her pause for a second to think. "There's… nothing in my books about… well, you."

"Me?"

"Well, more specifically what you are…" She said in a puzzled tone. "I used a spell to identify your soul, an image of what your soul looks like appeared. I expected to see a pony, but, I can't seem to figure out what I saw."

"What did you see?"

"I don't know, I have a book of creatures, it tells me about everything from ponies, to griffins, to dragons, but nothing about what your soul looked like."

Griffins and dragons? Great…

"What did I look like?"

"Hm… well. A tall, bipedal creature with hair only on top of its head, two arms-"

I stopped her right there.

"A human?"

"A what?"

"A human, that's what I am."

"…" She thought in silence a bit, it appeared that she'd never heard of a human before, just as I've never heard of talking ponies before. "I have a lot of questions, would you mind?"

"I have questions, too, so that would be fine."

"Alright."

I heard Redheart interrupt the conversation.

"Listen, I'm confused too, and I don't want to intrude, but would you mind if I stayed a bit while everything is being explained?"

The both of us looked at her, and then Twilight smiled.

"Of course, if Allard is okay with it, that is."

"Yeah." I knew how she felt, confused and wanting answers, no reason to keep her questions unanswered.


	4. Exploring Town

"So, why don't I have one?"

We have gotten deep into talking about Equestria and its inhabitants. She told me all about earth ponies and pegasi and unicorns, what they do and how they do it. This was the last thing she was telling me about, these "cutie marks". I hadn't paid much attention to them until she brought it up. She told me about how they represent someone's special talent.

"Most likely because you haven't discovered your special talent yet."

"Alright." I didn't plan on staying here long enough to do so, but the information was interesting. "I'm ready to answer your questions now."

"Great!"

Suddenly, with a quick glow of her horn, she got out a quill and a long, long piece of paper. I looked at her curiously at why she had gotten them out.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm going to be learning things from you that isn't in any book in Equestria! I can't just miss this opportunity to learn! So, I'm going to be taking notes." She smiled brightly; she seemed seriously interested in me.

"Um, alright then" I've never seen someone so eager to learn before. "So, where should I start?"

"Tell me about you, these 'humans' you told me of a little bit ago."

"Well, humans are kind of complex. There are so many things I can say about humans. First, we've become technologically advanced in machinery, especially weaponry."

I saw her taking notes as she asked questions.

"Weaponry?"

"Yeah, it's why the entire world of humans is at war with itself."

"That sounds… well that doesn't sound good at all! Why is your world at war?"

"It's actually a long, long story."

"Please tell."

"Very well, it all started about ten years ago."

I let my mind wander deep into thought, gathering information I haven't bothered to think of in years. All this information was alien and scattered to me, but thanks to twilight's patience, I was able to slowly piece everything together before I started speaking.

"About ten years ago, the year 1220, Mankind had started developing extremely powerful weapons. Each country was claiming that the weapons protected the boarders and brought the world closer to peace, they didn't know how wrong they were. Instead of bringing peace, countries demanded that the others relinquish their military power over fear that they would be attacked. To put things simply, countries were confident in their own military power, but feared the power that other countries had.

"Certain countries attempted to create alliances with other countries, but in these tense times, all alliances were bound to fail, and the world fell into a free-for-all. Tensions had rose even higher, every country in the world had its guns pointed at all the others. Troops were sent out to defend and offensive lines were set up. I'm not sure what country attacked first, but it doesn't matter to me. Either way, that first attack officially started the world war. Out of sheer panic, all the other countries started attacking others, some of the smaller and weaker countries didn't last very long and were basically destroyed, and then taken over.

"Stronger military powers began to fight each other and ignore the smaller powers a bit more. Eventually it got to the point where countries actually tried to take land. That started happening five years into the world war, and that's when I was sent out. We took a number of small territories along Germany, and I was then pulled from Germany and sent on a ship to Africa to take back some land Germany had taken. I was on there for about another five years, I had heard rumors about the countries coming close to relying on nuclear warfare; I hoped for my life that they were just rumors.

"That's just about it, my world is a total mess and it affected the economy to the point where people across the world, even the rich countries, can barely afford homes and food for themselves. It's a bad situation and citizens have no choice but to join the military because of how bad their lives are if they don't. It's not that the government purposely hurts the citizens; it's just that they're so focused on the war, they can't do anything else.

"This isn't a world war; it's just a world-wide civil war." I finally said as I finished talking.

"Wow... I had no idea..." Twilight slowly said.

I was so focused on explaining things that I didn't notice that Twilight had stopped taking notes about half way through my speech.

"It's a pretty bad place at the moment... but enough about that, what other questions do you have?"

That triggered her note taking again, we spent the next two hours of me explaining what life on earth use to be like, what it's suppose to be, how nice and mean people can be. She seemed extremely surprised when I told her about the lack of magic. Well, mainly her asking about it and me telling her there was none.

"How can there just... not be any magic?"

"I don't know... there just isn't, it's hard to explain from your point of view."

"Okay then." She said and wrote one last thing at the end of the long piece of paper. "Well, that's just about it; I don't think I have much more to ask, at least not yet."

"Well, then I guess we're done here." I took a look out the window and looked at darkness. I was surprised, it was so dark outside, yes we got here at morning, have we really been here that long?

"Well, I guess that answers a lot of my questions." I heard Redheart say as she gets up from lying on a pillow. "I should get home and get some rest." Redheart says as she heads for the door.

"Bye Redheart." Twilight Sparkle said just before she leaves the library. Twilight then gave out a yawn. "We should get some rest, too; in the morning I'll show you around town, maybe we'll meet some of my friends."

"Okay." I simply said. I wasn't exactly keen on seeing more of this town, but I'll deal with it then. All I wanted to do was get home as soon as possible; I'll pick World War over sunny hills and rays of sunshine any day.

Her assistant named Spike made the guest bed. I left the fact that she had a baby wingless magic dragon that can talk as an assistant alone; I didn't want to think too much. Me being a pony now, I was in an awkward position as I tried to lie in bed. I closed my eyes and somehow managed to get some sleep.

The next morning I was woken up by the sound of a trumpet. I let out a surprised yell and jumped from my bed, landing half on the floor in a position that mirrored the first time I tried to get out of the hospital bed. The dragon began laughing a bit holding a small trumpet.

"Man, I've wanted to try that for ages!"

His laughter was soon cut short when I quickly got on all fours, with a bit of stumbling obviously, and looked at him ferociously with a low growl.

He seemed scared, but my anger was cut short when he spoke. "H-Hey! Don't look at me like that, Twilight told me to wake you; also, she wants to see you downstairs."

I calmed down then, he didn't have to wake me up THAT way, but it was effective I have to admit.

"Okay." I said and looked around. "Where's my walker."

"Right here." Spike said. He went to get it as I was looking around for it and was currently bringing it to me.

With a bit of difficulty I got onto the walker. I'm not going to go into detail about how hard it was to get down those stairs; I will say that I almost ended up hospital worthy again. Next time I'm sleeping downstairs.

I met Twilight downstairs and she looked over at me.

"First things first, lets get rid of that walker."

"W-wait wha-" Before I could finish my walker was grabbed by purple magic and pulled away, I met the floor once again. I think I'm getting use to the feeling of my face meeting the ground.

"Come on, get up, you're going to need to know how to walk."

I mumbled and slowly made my way to my feet, err, hooves. I was somewhat use to standing, just not walking.

"First, put your right fore hoof forward."

I felt for that hoof, and then did as she said and brought it forward to the ground.

"Good, now the left hind hoof."

That was a bit more difficult to find, but I managed to do that, too.

About thirty minutes passed and I was walking pretty decently. The feeling wasn't that different from walking on two legs, but different enough to give me some problems. I couldn't exactly walk quickly or jog at all, but I'm sure I'd get more hang of it once I walk more.

"Alright, so we're ready to go." I heard her say.

I stopped walking around and looked at her, then slowly made my way to her. Soon, we were outside again, and I looked around and saw what I saw yesterday, but in more detail.

The buildings were mainly white with hay roofs; I figured that the roofs were stronger than they appear because I saw a couple ponies standing on one working on the chimney.

Ponies were walking here and there minding their own casual business, I wasn't getting as many looks as before, must have been the walker, then. As we walked through town we made it to what appeared to be the market of town.

"This is the market place; this is where ponies would sell food, grains, oats, plants, flowers, and furniture, too. Unlike most places, thing don't have a set prince here, the customer and the owner of the stand usually just bargain on a price."

"Uh-huh." I simply said, I was too focused on looking around as we walked to give her a proper answer.

The market was full of stands, each selling different things. The buildings next to the stands looked to be shops and stores, one store that looked odd to me was a store that said it only sold quills and sofas, I wondered how anyone could make a profit just by selling two things.

There was also a jewelry store, and not far from the market there seemed to be some sort of candy shop as well. I'm not too fond of candy or sweets, I never really had much of a sweet tooth.

After walking around the market a bit, we came across the edge of town where there was a small red building.

"That's the schoolhouse, where the fillies go to learn stuff."

In my mind I thought "_You don't say?_" but rather than saying that I simply nodded. "Alright, what's next?"

"Well, there's the town hall, it's over by the market, I guess I should have showed you that first before dragging you to the edge of town."

"That would have seemed like a good idea, yes."

Heh, yeah I figured that... my bad." She said with an awkward smile.

We made out was away from the schoolhouse just as the bell rang for the school day to end. We soon made out way over to the town hall after about ten minutes of walking.

"This is town hall, where ceremonies and town meetings are held. Political decisions regarding the town are also made here as well as plans for any upcoming events."

"Well I figured that much, but still interesting."

"Yeah, well come on, there's still more to see." Twilight said as she walked away slowly.

I sighed. "Oh joy." I began to follow her.


	5. Meeting Pinkie Pie

We continued through the market until we came across a two story building that looks like it is made out of candy.

"Here we are." I heard Twilight say.

Twilight Sparkle walked up to the front door and I followed close beside her. I looked up at the sign before we walked in. "Sugar Cube Corner" is what the sign said. Sounds like some sort of candy shop.

We walked in, I smelt an unfamiliar scent, but I recognized what it was. The air smelled like freshly baked cupcakes, I haven't had a whole lot of cupcakes in my life, but I recognized the smell.

"Mr. and Mrs. Cake?"

"Oh, why hello there Twilight."

I saw another pony, a light blue one with a pink mane that looked like the icing swirl on a cupcake. She came out of the kitchen that was behind the counter. I figured this one was Mrs. Cake.

"What brings you here? Who's your friend?"

"This is Allard, he's new to Ponyville and I've been showing him around, is Pinkie Pie here?"

"Oh, sure she is, she just finished baking a dozen cupcakes for an order we have, I'm doing the icing on top right now, she should be upstairs, and shall I get her?"

"No need~! Pinkie Pie is here~!" I heard a childish voice cry out.

I turned around and saw stairs, and on top a pink pony was sliding down the railing. Once she got to the end she jumped off of it. I nearly fell once again when she had landed directly in front of me. Before I could do anything she grabbed one of my new hooves with both of hers and began shaking it wildly. I felt my body jump up and down in result.

"Hi! I'm Pinkie Pie! Wow, I've never seen you around here before. What's your name? Oh, how silly of me, I already heard your name, it's Allard, right? You must be new here and-!"

She gasps, jumping as she legs go of my hand, my eyes were closed tight so I didn't notice that she had let go, I continued shaking my hoof for a second before I slowly stopped and looked at the pony.

"If you are new here then that means you don't know anypony! And if you don't know anypony then that means you don't have friends, and that must mean you are sad because how can anypony be happy with no friends? OH! I'll have to throw you a big welcome party for you and invite everypony! Then you'll make friends and be happy and have fun, oh, I'll bring pin the tail on the pony, it'smyfavoritegameofalltimebeca useit'ssofunIwonderifyou'veeverplayeditbeforeohwhoamI kiddingeveryponyhasplayeditb eforeit'ssutchagoodgameand-"

I was saved from the speech when twilight's hoof corked Pinkie's mouth.

"We'd love to stay and talk, Pinkie, but we're busy, I'm showing him around town at the moment." Her hoof left her mouth just then.

"Hmm…" Pinkie Pie took her hoof to her jaw, then she jump up with a thought. "Oh! I have to start planning the party now, and then I could start the party by the end of the day or maybe tomorrow morning! Bye Twilight~!" Pinkie says right before bolting up the stairs.

"See you later, Pinkie!" Twilight says just before we leave the building.

After a while we get back to the market, I look around, stopping myself from walking further. "Well… that wasn't exactly the most fun meeting of my life…"

"Sorry, Allard, Pinkie just tents to get a… bit exited to see new ponies."

"A bit?"

"Okay, a lot."

I started walking a bit, I didn't exactly want to continue seeing her friends if they were all like Pinkie Pie. The mere thought of colorful ponies shaking my hoof wildly and bouncing all around me didn't exactly make me joyful.

"Well, next up we're going to go see my friend Applejack at Sweet Apple Acres."

"Sounds like the name of an apple farm."

"That's because it is."

I was never a fan of the taste of apples.

"Alright, best to get it over with now than later…"

"Follow me."

We began to head in another direction, now. Soon we passed the building where we met Pinkie Pie, I could tell by the colors. I forgot the name of the place, and I didn't bother to look at the sign to remember, I was just focusing on the road that Twilight Sparkle was leading me through.

* * *

**A/N:** Sorry for such a short chapter, I stretched it out as much as I could, it was originally under six hundred words, but I managed to get it a little over seven hundred words. Sorry again, future chapters will be longer.


	6. Tour of the Farm

We continued to walk down the road, passing small homes as well as other two story buildings, one or two of them looked light it might be a hotel, or maybe an INN. I still didn't exactly like all the bright colors that were all around me; however, I was getting used to seeing them by now.

I felt my hooves slowly shuffle along the somewhat dusty dirt road as we walked. After a few minutes of walking, we seemed to be at the last few buildings of Ponyville, and a few yards away from us was an arched gate with a fence around what seemed like a farm. The white painted gate was open and decorated with a green plant. Up the hill I saw a large red barn that the dirt road continued to lead to; also, not far from the barn there was a good sized two story house.

We stopped at the gate.

"Here we are, Sweet Apple Acres, this is Ponyville's main supply of… well… apples, of course."

I looked off at the distance; covering the hills in the background I saw miles of apple trees.

"That's a lot of apples for such a small village."

"It's not that small of a village; and no, we don't use all the apples here in Ponyville. Some of them are sold to other nearby towns for profit; some are sold at the local market as well. They're also used to bake other goods that they sell."

"Good to know, now are we going there or not?"

"Yeah, follow me."

She entered the gate; I was walking somewhat behind her, but mostly by her right side. We came closer to the two story house not far from the barn, once we got there Twilight knocked on the door a couple times and then waited, soon the door was answered by an apple green old pony.

"Wha? Huh? Who's there?" Said the old pony, looking around for someone even though we were right in front of her.

"Right in front of you, Granny Smith." Said Twilight.

Then the old pony named Smith looks in front of her and recognized Twilight, it seemed she was looking everywhere but where we were.

"Oh! Twilight, dearie, what a lovely surprise!"

"It's good to see you, too. Is Applejack home?"

It seemed it was too late, for the old pony had fallen asleep where she stood. Twilight looked at here with a brow raised, and then put her hoof over her mouth.

"Ahem." She coughed.

The old pony woke up, wide eyes and looking around.

"Wha? Huh? Who's…? Oh, Twilight. Yeah um, Applejack's in the west field harvesting some apples."

"Thank you Granny smith, see you later." Twilight waved bye and walked away, I followed her.

We were no longer walking on a road, but on grass and dirt, and soon we entered the thin line of apple trees.

We walked for a good thirty seconds after entering the tree line before I started hearing a faint thumping noise. It became clearer as we went along; I was now able to make out the sound of leaves rustling after each thump. After another moment, I saw an orange pony that was carrying two half full buckets of apples on her back; I knew they were apples because I saw her buck a tree and watched a few apples fall and disappear from me sight into the bucket with excellent accuracy.

After the apples fell safely into the buckets, the orange pony looked over at us and smiled brightly.

"Oh, Twilight. Mighty nice seein' you here."

She spoke in a joyous tone and with a western accent as well.

"Hey Applejack, I came here to introduce a new pony in town, I'm showing him around right now."

Applejack, as Twilight announced her name to be, looked over at me with a curious look.

"This here the one?"

Twilight nodded. "Mhm."

After hearing here say that, Applejack tipped her hat forward a bit. "Why hello there, partner. Welcome to Sweet Apple Acres of Ponyville, got a name there?"

"Allard." I said.

"Well it's mighty nice to meet you, Allard; any friend of Twilight is a friend of mine."

"Nice to meet you, too."

"Would you like me to give this here fellow a tour of the farm for ya'?"

"That won't be ness-" My sentence was interrupted when Twilight put her hoof over my mouth, preventing me from talking.

"That would be great."

Applejack nodded and put the apples she had into a large wheelbarrow and rushed over to me. Twilight let go of my mouth and I looked over at her with an annoyed look, then back at Applejack.

"Well this here is the west apple field, pretty self-explanatory." Then she pointed east and I followed my gaze to where she was pointing. "Way over yonder is the east field, also self-explanatory."

I was all of a sudden wide eyed in surprise when she grabbed me and rushed elsewhere, within moments we were back at the barn.

"How the…"

"This here is the barn, most of the cows and pigs live in there and we do our best to take care of them, in return they help us as well."

She pulled me again; we were at a small field that grew carrots, lettuce, and other vegetables.

"This here is where we grow out non-apple crops. It's small but it works."

I was pulled once again; we were in front of a storage shed next to the barn.

"Our tools and barrels are stored here in the shed, along with other things used for different harvests."

Once more, pulled else ware, I wasn't sure how she was moving so quickly. We were in front of the house. In a rocking chair was the old pony I met earlier, and moving a different wheelbarrow was a large red pony that I didn't see earlier at all.

"This here is my home. That over there is Granny Smith, and the red one over there is my big brother, Big Macintosh. I'd introduce you to my little sis Apple Bloom but she's off with her friends at the moment."

I looked around, and then I nod slowly. "Well… um… nice to meet your family and all, but I think it's about time for me to go now."

She looked a bit disappointed. "Oh, come on, stay a bit longer. It's not very often that you meet new folk around here. Folk often come and go through Ponyville, but never long enough to properly meet them."

"He's right, though." Twilight said as she walked towards us, we both turned out heads to see her.

"We're in a bit of a hurry to finish the tour of Ponyville, we have a lot of business to do and I'm only giving the tour because he'll be staying for a while."

Applejack huffed a bit. "Well alright then, Twi." She turned to see me. "I guess I'll be seein' you around then, partner."

"Yeah, see you later." I said as we both turn around and began walking away.

We headed down the path again and exited the way we came, through the gate. Down the same path, we headed towards Ponyville once again, not taking long to re-enter town.

"So, where next?"

"Well, next we'll go to-" She was cut off when there was a loud voice shouting.

"LOOK OUT!"

Suddenly a blur crashed into me, just barely missing Twilight by an inch. Whatever hit me and I both tumbled down the road for a bit before stopping. I groaned in pain as I stood back up and looked over at what hit me. I saw a cyan pegasus with a rainbow mane on the ground, slowly getting back onto her feet.

She looked at me and recognized me as someone she never met before.

"Sorry about that, the name's Rainbow Dash!"


	7. The Cyan Blue Blur

"Are you okay, Allard?" I heard Twilight ask; I nodded without looking at her.

"Hey, you must be the new guy around here that I've been hearing about. Hmm… Allard, that's a strange name."

Rainbow Dash would then used her wings to lift her up and keep herself air born a few feet from the ground. She flew closer to me and then circled around me a few times, examining me. Once she was done, she flew in front of me and landed a couple feet away.

"Well like I said, my name is Rainbow Dash," She then puffed out her chest and took a prideful pose. "Greatest and fastest flier in all of Equestria, as well as the future captain of the Wonder Bolts!"

She returned to her normal pose and flew a couple feet into the air again.

"So where are you from? Judging by the hair cut, you don't seem to be from anywhere close."

"No, I'm from… far away."

I did not feel like explaining the whole "from another world" thing. I then remembered the crash that introduced us to each other.

"So what was that all about? With the crashing."

"Oh! I'm working on a great new move!" She says as she swirled a bit and flew higher into the air. "I don't know what I'm going to name it yet… but it's going to be awe-some!"

"Awesome, huh? Well I doubt I'm sticking around long enough to see it finished, bye."

I turned around and began heading away. Twilight began to walk in front of me to lead me, but Rainbow Dash flew right in front of me again.

"Whoa, what's the hurry? C'mon, you should see what I got so far, I need somepony to judge on how it is."

"Sorry, we don't have enough time."

"Actually, we have plenty of time." Twilight corrected as she walks next to me. "Of course, we'd love to see what you've got so far."

I gave her another quick annoyed look before Rainbow Dash responded.

"Awesome! Watch this!"

She then instantly took off into the sky in the blink of an eye.

Once she was high enough, she grabbed a rather large cloud and took off with it, I still wasn't sure how ponies could hold clouds and make weather like they do. As she took off, she left behind a trail of the cloud behind her; it reminded me of a smoke trick jets use for air shows. She did flips and spins and flew faster, slowing down in some parts. Once she was done it looked like the head of a pony, then suddenly she started flying down and rushed over to a lake of which I could faintly see in the distance.

She kicked up water and flew back up, because of the momentum in her flight; the particles of water would follow her into the sky. She suddenly stopped just before hitting the cloud pony head and the water continued, creating a mist of water over and next to the head of the pony, the light reflected and made many colors reflect from the water, it looks like it was supposed to resemble Rainbow Dash's mane, but looked like a mist of random colors here and there mostly, it was close enough.

I was, in fact, amazed at this performance, and it is very hard to amaze me.

Suddenly she burst from behind the sky painting, breaking it up and flying straight for us. I thought she was going to crash again, but she stopped right before us. I winced and turned a bit to protect myself from the impact, but looked back at her when I realized she had not crash into me.

"And that is how it's done!"

Twilight Sparkle began to clap her hooves together excitedly; I couldn't help but to smile a bit from that performance.

"Wow, Rainbow, that was amazing, and you didn't crash!"

"Well, I'm supposed to spin and fly while I burst out of my cloud face at the same time, I crashed because I lost my concentration as well as my sense of direction while I was spinning."

"Maybe I can let you borrow a detailed book on flying, perhaps that will help."

"Nah, I think I'll stick to Daring Doo. So, what did you think, Allard?" She looks over at me.

"I'm impressed, well done."

If they knew me before I woke up in this world, they'd be surprised. I never compliment anyone, ever.

Rainbow Dash took another boastful pose, but while she hovered over the ground this time.

"Hah! I knew you would! Who wouldn't like my flying?"

"That was a great performance, Rainbow. I'd like to stay and talk some more, but we have to go now."

"Where are you two headed?"

"I'm giving him a tour of Ponyville sense he'll be staying for a little while. We're heading to Rarity's Boutique next."

Rainbow Dash seems to chuckle a bit before landing again.

"Rarity?" She looks at me. "With that mane? She'll have a fit!" Rainbow says with a grin, looking at me but talking to Twilight.

Twilight blinks and looks over at me as well, seeing how me mane is cut flat as well as my short cut stub of a tail.

"Well… I'm sure she can handle it just fine."

"Haha, she throws a fit whenever something in her design is one line out of place!"

"…Well, we're going anyway." Twilight says finally.

I didn't like this. A crazy pink pony I can handle, A quick tour of a farm of which I was pulled around I can put up with, Being crashed into by a boastful pegasus I can deal with, but I really don't like the combination of a boutique and the description they gave of the pony who runs it. I think this is going to be my limit.

I know I will regret this, but I'm going to try and get this over with anyway.

"Let's get going, then." I said, beginning to walk away.

Twilight nods and walked over in front of me to lead the way. "See you later, Rainbow."

"See ya' Twi."

I heard Rainbow Dash snicker and giggle just a bit before I heard her fly off.

Soon we were walking more into town once again. We went through the market place, passing stands selling various foods and items. We entered a part of town with various shops like jewelry and furniture. Soon, we came close to a tall round building with a lot of purple.

"Here we are," Said Twilight as we walked up to the front door.


	8. Shredded Dresses

Once we got to the building, I sighed and prepared myself for what I thought would happen. I approached the building followed by Twilight. I took a deep breath and then Twilight Sparkle brought her hoof up to the door to knock, then something went wrong.

"Oh! Hey! Stop that Opal- AGH! That was my best dress! No! Down kitty!"

The sound of a loud hiss and some crashing was heard inside, grabbing both my and Twilight's attention.

"Opal, oh. Y-you shouldn't do that, calm down. Oh dear…"

Twilight would then burst into the building followed by me. I was shocked to see what was going on.

Standing on the tip of her hooves on a table was a white unicorn with a purple stylish mane, but it seemed frizzed and scratched a bit, she was using her magic to keep some clothing and fabric air born and out of reach from a white Persian cat that seemed to be rampaging through the shop, there were various torn fabrics and ripped up dresses and saddles on the ground, furniture had scratch marks as well. There was another pony also, a yellow one with a long pink mane, a pegasus who was flying a bit high off the ground. They were both focused on the cat.

"Fluttershy! Do something!" Cried the unicorn.

"I-I'm trying. Oh! Twilight thank goodness!"

The pegasus flew towards us, but only focused on Twilight; I don't think she even knows I'm here yet.

"Dear Celestia, what's going on here?!"

"Opalescence, I don't know why but she's not acting like herself. I've tried begging, pleading, even asking nicely, but she won't calm down…"

"Oh, just to something more forceful! My dresses are getting ruined!"

"Hold on."

Twilight then used her magic and lifted the raging cat from the ground. The cat tried to grab onto a piece of fabric, but it was ripped from her claws as she was lifted, how she was hissing and swinging her claws around in mid air. Twilight Sparkle brought her closer to her to more closely examine her, though made sure she wasn't close enough to harm anyone… er… anypony… I'm still getting use to saying that.

"She looks fine to me; she's just… acting more violent for some reason."

I walked closer for a better look, a typical cat that's scratching, hissing, and destroying everything. Same way cats act on my world. Something happened once I approached, though. My horn felt a bit tingly, like it was sparking a bit. Twilight blinks once she saw my horn glow, and the other two did as well, but because they just now realized that I was there.

My horn sparked and a shiny green spark from it hit the cat and the cat glowed green a bit as well. I stepped back out of shock and Twilight let go of the cat from surprise, who then fell to the ground with a quiet bounce. The cat sparked green a bit more and continued to be violent.

The white unicorn then jumps from the table. "Opal!" She cried and ran to the violent cat. "What did you do to my Opal?!"

I was surprised to see that as the green shocks faded, the cat named Opal slowly began to calm down to everyone's surprise.

Rarity would blink in shock as the cat stood up wide-eyed, then walked away like nothing was going on. It was then that I felt myself choked when the unicorn suddenly hugged me to the point I couldn't breathe.

"Oh thank you, thank you, thank you! You made my dear Opalescence normal again! Oh how could I ever repay you?!"

"Ack! You could start… by… letting me go…"

The white unicorn went wide eyed when she realized what she was doing and then suddenly let go of me. She coughed into her hoof and seemed to regain her "elegance".

"Oh, I'm terribly sorry; it's definitely not lady-like to do something like that."

"Um… th-thank you for your help..." Announced the yellow pegasus quietly, landing next to rarity.

"Um… I'm not… even sure what I did…"

Suddenly The yellow pegasus went wide eyed and looked at me directly, as if she suddenly recognized me.

"O-oh! It's you!"

I blinked. "Um… what?"

"You know him, Fluttershy?" Twilight asked.

"Well… um… no… not exactly. But a few days ago after I woke up I was going to go feed my chickens, but as soon as I walked outside, I saw a bright light, then suddenly he appears out of nowhere on the ground!"

I was shocked, remembering what Nurse Redheart said about how I got to the hospital in the first place.

"So you're the one who brought me to the hospital?"

"Um… yeah… It wasn't easy, you're very heavy, but I just barely managed to get you there. Um… I'm glad to see that you're okay."

"Well… yeah, I am now… thanks for your help."

"Oh, uh, you're welcome… I guess…"

Rarity was listening the whole time, then continued the conversation from when I said I wasn't sure what I did.

"Well… whatever it is that you did to my dear Opal, I am very grateful for it, my name is Rarity."

"Um… I'm Fluttershy…" She says, she seems a bit shy, fits her name, but I don't think she's as shy around me. Maybe it's because she already met me before, even though I was passed out as the time.

"Nice to meet you two. My name is Allard."

"Oh dear! How could I have not noticed this before! Whatever happened to your mane?"

"Oh, it's nothing, it's just like that."

"No no, this simply will not do! I know! I'll make you some nice clothes! Surely something that will be able to distract ponies from that awful hair."

"Oh, there's no need to-"

"Oh but I must! It's the least I could do for you helping my with my precious Opal!"

I looked at her, then over at the cat, which seems to just me messing with a frizzed up piece of yarn. I Looked back at her and considered what she had said. "Alright…"

"Great! Come with me, please mind the mess, I haven't gotten around to cleaning up just yet."

Rarity trots away, acting almost as if the mess wasn't there. I followed, passing by the yellow pegasus.

"Um… I should go now… I need to feed my chickens." Fluttershy says, slowly walking past Twilight and out the door. Twilight waved goodbye to her.

She took out a long measuring tape. "Would you mind standing still for me?"

I nodded in responce and did so, then she began to use the tape to measure nearly every inch of me.

"Hmm…. Aha! I know exactly what I should do!"

Inspiration struck her as she took out some untouched fabrics, then began to place some around me and examine me closely. I stood still through it all.

"Oh, that will look simply ravishing on you! I need to get to work right away!" She then took the fabric off of me and began to trot away. "You two can be on your way now, I need to get to work pronto~!"

"Are you sure you don't want us to at least stay and help clean this place up?"

"Oh no, it's fine, can't have anypony distracting me from my work, no offence."

"We understand, come on Allard, let's leave her alone to work." Twilight says as she walks out the front door.

I nod in response, following her out. Once Twilight closed the door behind me, I walked next to her, we seemed to be heading back to the Library.

"So… Allard… what was that all about? I thought you didn't know how to use magic."

"I don't, and I don't even know what it is that I did… this is all so strange and new to me…"

"Well we should probably head back to the library, we've seen most of the village anyway."

"Yeah, Alright."

After a bit of walking, we soon got to the large tree library. Twilight went over and she opened the door with her magic, she didn't close it until after I walked inside.

"You really aren't from this world, are you?"

"No, I'm not."

"I'm not sure what's going on… Spike!"

Suddenly the small purple dragon began to fun downstairs. "Yes Twilight?"

"Spike, I need you to take a note."

"Got it!" He grabs out a quill and a paper.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm sending a letter to princess Celestia, she might be able to tell us what's going on."

"Um… alright… I'm also feeling a bit tired, I'll go upstairs and get some rest… It's been a long day…"

"Alright, sleep well."

I began going up the stairs, it was a bit more difficult to do because I wasn't use to four legs and stairs, but I managed to get up. After a moment, I was once again in the bed, and I closed my eyes to sleep.


	9. Where's Pinkie Pie?

I woke up with my eyes still feeling heavy; I felt a marble ground beneath me. I groaned as I sat back up, my hand feeling my forehead due to a headache I now had. It was then that I realized something, I had hands again! At that moment I looked at my hands and then curiously looked at my surroundings. I was in a room, and not far in front of me… was a large door with no handles, this was familiar; it was the same room from before.

I stood up and looked at it the room curiously. It looks like it's able to open, but there's nothing for me to open it with, and it also looks too heavy for me to push open with bare hands. Despite how impossible this seemed, I still walked towards the large double door, and then placed both of my hands on it, one on each door.

I heard a loud roaring sound from within, then saw darkness begin to engulf me and pain surged through every cell in my body. I winced in pain and felt myself fading away as if I were waking up from a dream, but then I remembered this scene, this has happened before.

"No, not this time," I said to myself.

I forcefully pushed the feeling of pain away from my mind and then I looked towards the door that the darkness did not allow me to see. I pushed through, and I felt the door budge, but not easily. It took a lot of my will and strength to push the door open even the littlest bit, it was not an easy task; however, every time I pushed, the door got lighter. Once the large double door began to open, light penetrated through the opening, banishing the darkness.

Soon, the door suddenly jerked itself open completely and I stumbled forward through it before regaining my balance. I looked ahead and before me was a large circular room; at least I thought it was a room. When I took another look, there were more doorways; Three of them. None of them had any doors, and the whole place had no ceiling, at least, not anymore. The ground was grass this time, the walls were made of marble still, but this time covered in thin vines shooting up from the ground and swirling in an artistic design.

The sky was blue, full of light and a few clouds here and there. When I looked back, I saw that the door from the first room was gone, just a wall where it used to be; somehow, I expected that to happen. Realizing that I had no way back, I stepped into the center of the large circular room and looked into each open doorway from where I stood; all three lead into a long hallway. The hallways to the left and right were curved just a bit and the one straight ahead went perfectly straight forwards for maybe about ten yards before leading to a dead end.

I saw that the hallways also had grass floors and no ceiling, and that the hallways had even more doorways leading into more hallways. This was definitely some sort of maze. I began to explore, walking down the hallway to my right first.

* * *

Pinkie Pie bounced down the roads of Ponyville, having two baskets with her, one on each of her sides with various party supplies as well as already blown up balloons tied to her back and floating up a few feet, kept still with string. She was heading down and around Ponyville giving invitations to just about everypony. She bounced excitedly and happily with a large shiny smile on her face, unable to wait until morning to hand out the invitations; she was too excited to sleep. All of the ponies who received an invitation, which is everypony in town, were tired and still drowsy from a lack of sleep when she came loudly to their door for invitations; however, they were happy to receive them none the less.

The last house was, in her mind, the most important. She was bouncing down over to the library to give the last two invitations made for Twilight sparkle and Allard. She stops right in front of the door, and she raised her hoof to knock on the door when… she heard somepony outside.

Her hoof froze in midair and she turned her head behind her to see a cloaked pony. The cloak covered everything except a bit of the muzzle and the hooves; it was easy to tell that the pony was male. Normally anypony would be at least a bit scared by the sudden appearance of a strange cloaked pony, but not Pinkie Pie.

"Oh, hi! I haven't seen you around here before! Are you new here too?!"

Pinkie Pie excitedly turned around, glad to see this new pony in town. She was, in fact, too excited to notice the pony take out a small vial from within the cloak he wore.

"My name is Pinkie Pie! What's your name? Oh, it's so exciting to see a new pony in town, we just got another one in yesterday and I'm throwing a-"

Her talking was cut off when the vial was thrown in front of her, releasing a white gas into the air that slowly rose up, catching her attention for a brief second.

"What's this? What's going…? I'm… feeling… sleeeeepy…."

Her eyes suddenly began to grow heavy; she then fell over to her side on the ground with a quiet thud, passed out.

The pony walked up to her, then removed his hood to reveal a stallion with a greenish coat and a short red mane.

* * *

"Allard, get up!" Yelled Twilight. "Hurry!"

I groaned tiredly, my eyes still heavy as I opened my eyes to see the pony world before me, and Twilight panicking not far from my bed. I remembered that dream I had… of me exploring that huge maze the entire night.

"Allard! Hurry up!"

I sat up in the bed, then made my way off of it and looked at the purple pony in front of me.

"What's all the panicking about?"

"Pinkie Pie is gone!"

"Huh?"

"Pinkie Pie, I woke up this morning and found two invitations to a party on the ground in front of my door."

"Yeah… and?"

"She NEVER just leaves invitations on the ground; she always delivers them in person."

"What were the invitations to?"

"A party as usual."

"Well… maybe she was doing something different… no reason to assume she's missing."

"But she IS missing. I went all over Ponyville and everypony says she gave the invite in person, but nopony knows where she is now! Even Mr. and Ms. Cake can't find her, we've been searching everywhere! It's just not like her to disappear like this."

"That's… actually, now that I think of it… that does sound pretty odd."

"Exactly! I mean, even if she left Ponyville for a while, she'd let us know ahead of time. Something has to be going on; I've already sent a letter concerning the situation to the princess."

"Twilight! I got a response letter from the princess!"

Spike would then come rushing up the stairs to the two of us, waving a rolled up piece of paper as he ran up. The paper was then taken from his hands quickly by Twilight's magic, tripping Spike and making him fall onto the ground. He slowly got back up and ran over to Twilight's side.

"You could've just taken it nicely… what does it say?"

"Let me see."

I looked at Twilight Sparkle; she opened the paper and held it in front of her with her magic and began to read the letter out loud.

"_My faithful student,_

_ I'm sorry, but I am unable to do much for you at this very moment for I am already tied up in a similar situation. One day ago one of the royal guards disappeared by unknown means and could not be found anywhere. The thought that it has happened to your friend Pinkie Pie as well is unfortunate. Foalnapping is a rare crime within Equestria and is not taken lightly. I now suspect that these two disappearances are somehow related. I wish for you to bring your friends to Canterlot immediately to discuss the situation, including the new pony you informed me about in your previous letter. I am sending a couple royal chariots to bring you and your friends here._

_ -Princess Celestia_"

"Wait, including me? What does she want me for?"

"I don't know, but there might be something going on. Allard, stay here with spike, I'm going to go get the others and bring them here."

I didn't respond, and almost instantly after she finished speaking, Twilight hurried down the stairs and left out the front door.

"Awe man… I never get to go on any adventures…" Spike said as he sighed and walked away. "Just once I wish I could go with them somewhere."

He went down the stairs. I felt a bit bad for him over the fact that he couldn't go, but it wasn't my problem. I can't believe I'm getting involved of all of this, this situation doesn't concern me what so ever. If they think that I'm going to help them with their own problems, then they're thinking wrong. No matter what the princess thinks, I am not helping. I just want to get home, nothing more, nothing less.


	10. Not My Problem

**A/N:** As a reminder, the story takes place before the events in season 4 of the show. There is a reference to an event that has been resolved in season 4, so don't get confused when you read that part.

**Warning:**

Mild Language

* * *

I spent my time alone in the library thinking to myself about the situation. This was all strange and new to me; I didn't want to follow along with this at all, not one little bit. All of these ponies have their own little individual problems, and it's none of my business to tag along on this, I don't have to be a part of this; I'm getting too far into it.

After a little while, Twilight returned with four other ponies. I made my way down stairs and joined up with the rest of them.

"Alright girls, we've been called to the Canterlot palace to speak with the princesses, the chariots should be here any minute to bring us there."

"Who would just come along and take Pinkie Pie?" said Rainbow Dash; she kept herself a few feet in the air. "It doesn't make any sense."

"RD's right. I mean, no offence, but Pinkie Pie aint somepony any anypony would really WANT to take." said Applejack.

"I know, and the day before a royal guard in canterlot went missing as well." Twilight says.

"This doesn't make much sense, I recon we really should talk to the princess about all of this."

"We are; all of us and Allard are going to speak with the princesses."

"No, I'm not." I finally said.

They all looked at me, looking confused a bit, Twilight most of all.

"What?" Twilight said.

"I said I'm not going."

"But you have to, the princess told me to take everypony."

"None of this is my problem. Everybody has their own little issues, some have more than others. Things happen, get over it."

"Hey! How could you say that?!" Rainbow Dash said as she got aggressive towards what I said. I looked at her blankly. "Two ponies went missing, nopony has a clue where they are, and you're telling us to get over it?!"

"That's exactly what I'm saying. You can all go if you want to, but this is not my problem and I will not be getting involved in it. I really don't care that any'_pony' _is missing. Where I'm from, hundreds of people go missing a day, even more die every second; thousands are dying in a war this very moment. Why should I give two shits that two ponies went missing in two days, one of which I've never met before and the other I really just don't care about!"

They were all shocked by what I said; Rainbow Dash was noticeably getting angry.

"Why… you… you should…!" Rainbow Dash tried to find words, but couldn't.

"I've never heard of a place so horrible, I can't even think of a place like that to exist!" Applejack says.

"Believe me, it's real. Go chase after a lost cause if you want, I'm not going."

I headed out the front door.

"Allard!" Twilight shouted.

"What… what did he mean by… all that…?" Fluttershy asked very nervously.

"Well… um… It's like this…" Twilight began; she started to explain the whole situation to the ponies, how I'm from another world and how I'm not exactly a pony. I heard the start of it all, but after she started explaining I was too far away to hear anything else.

I trotted down the dirt roads of Ponyville, and then I slowed down to a walking pace. I was tense; I haven't yelled any anybody like that in a long time. They were probably not use to things like this, but it's still not my problem. I began to think about my situation, and then I sighed.

"They probably all hate me now…" I said quietly. I don't care if people, or ponies, hate me, which I can deal with, but how the hell am I going to get home now? If Twilight hates me for what I said then she probably won't help me get home, I'll be stuck here forever. I doubt anyone else would help me.

* * *

After a little while, the ponies were walking into the throne room, in there stood Princess Celestia with Princess Luna by her side. Twilight approached them, followed by Rarity, Fluttershy, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash. Celestia looked at all of them in a confused way, raising an eye brow and thinking of what was missing from the scene.

"Where might your friend Allard be? I believe I requested for him to show up as well." Celestia said with a confused tone.

Twilight sighed, the other ponies also a bit disappointed. "He refused to come with us."

"He refused? Why is that?"

"He said that this isn't his problem, that he won't show up because he doesn't have to get involved."

"Oh dear… that is unfortunate because I believe he is very much involved in what is going on."

"I know… may I ask why, though?"

Celestia nods, Luna glances over at Celestia, then at Twilight before she spoke.

"The balance between the two worlds is breaking apart." Luna says.

"The… balance?" asks Twilight.

"Yes, Twilight," Celestia continues, "There are two different worlds, connected by a line of balance that keeps them alive. This balance is breaking apart."

"Why? What's going on?"

"The two worlds are counterparts of each other, opposites that keep each other alive and reside within two connected realms. There is the Mystic Realm, the one we live in now full of peace and love. Then there is Earth Realm."

"The… Earth Realm?"

"Yes. The Earth realm has absolutely no magic within it at all. It's a baron and lonely realm; within it there are creatures known as humans that live there."

"How can there not be any magic there?"

"That's how it was made to keep its balance. Everything has an opposite to balance it out. Chaos has harmony, love has hate, and life has death. Even balance itself has opposites to it to keep itself balanced. This is represented by the two realms."

"What's happening?"

"Within the two worlds, there is positive balance and negative balance. Positive balance is represented by good deeds and harmony, everything in balance that is generally good. Negative balance is represented by evil doings and chaos. Our world, the Mystic Realm, is made up of positive balance, and the Earth Realm is made up of negative balance."

"Alright, that makes sense, but it still doesn't explain what is going on."

"We'll get to that, but we still need to explain how this balance works."

"Positive and negative balance within two separate realms is not enough." says Luna, "The worlds themselves need amounts of both to keep them balanced. If a world only has positive balance, then life and harmony will go on, but life would be meaningless and the same thing would happen every day as if time is repeating. If a world has only negative balance, chaos and hate would spread through the world, and everything would fight and kill until the world is lifeless and destroyed."

"But… what does this have to do with the disappearance of the royal guard and Pinkie Pie?"

"Listen closely everypony, because to explain all of this, I must tell a long story."

Twilight nods and the others agree, sitting down and beginning to listen to the story.

"Long ago, both worlds were unstable. They were baron worlds; one world was a world of ponies and the other a world of humans. They existed within a single realm, the realm of chaos. The realm of chaos had no harmony in it, and these two worlds were side by side, slowly making their way to their own destruction. They were both helpless to survive; however, from the chaos two creatures were born. One was called the Targawrath; the other was called the Gargarath.

"The Targawrath was a manifestation of positive balance, and the Gargarath was a manifestation of negative balance. The two of them were brothers, and they saw the two worlds that were in need of their help. They combined their power and split the realm of chaos in two between the two worlds, and placed the two worlds in the two new realms, the Mystic Realm and the Earth Realm. The Gargarath settled in the Earth Realm and brought chaos and destruction to it while the Targawrath settled within the Mystic Realm and brought harmony and prosperity. They then combined their power again the connected the two worlds, keeping the two realms tied together and surviving.

"The Targawrath notice something wrong, though. The balance they brought was not enough; his world was repeating situations and nopony cared about anypony or anything else. He looked into the Earth Realm and saw nothing but constant death and destruction, humans who progressed and were constantly creating new weapons to destroy their enemies.

"This concerned the Targawrath because his brother's world, a world his brother was proud of, was going to battle itself to extinction. If that happened, the balance between the two worlds would break and the two realms would become detached and drift apart forever; a lack of balance would eventually destroy the two realms all together.

"Worried of this possibility, the Targawrath proceeded to meet up with his brother and discuss the situation, but his brother didn't believe him. The Gargarath claimed that his world is perfect the way it is and will forever prosper. This displeased the Targawrath and he grew even more worried. The Targawrath proceeded to look for a solution, and found a possible one. Once again he confronted the Gargarath, this time with the solution.

"He said that the two of them must reside within each other's world, their presence in the world will give off just enough of their own form of balance to stabilize the opposite world while at the same time making that world a world of its own balance. The Gargarath dislikes this plan, getting angry and claimed that the Targawrath only wanted to take over his world and keep both worlds for himself, leaving the Gargarath with nothing. The Targawrath tried to convince the Gargarath that this was not true, but the Gargarath did not believe him.

"Soon, they broke out into a massive fight. By the end of the fight, the Targawrath was gravely wounded. Using the last of his strength, he banished the Gargarath to the Mystic Realm, turning him to stone and locking him forever within a hidden temple. The Gargarath could no longer fight, but he had one last trick. Before the Targawrath had a chance to go to the Earth Realm, the Gargarath trapped the Targawrath's soul in a labyrinth before the curse on the Gargarath was complete. They now resided in each other's world, but they were both trapped and locked in.

"The Targawrath's body was lost in the fight, his soul trapped within a labyrinth of unknown location. The Gargarath's own body turned to stone and used as a prison for his own soul. They would continue to reside on each other's world. The presence of their souls on the worlds balanced them out completely and strengthened the connection between the two realms.

"The Earth Realm became a place of negative balance, but positive balance made its residents good people in a violent world. The Mystic Realm became a place of positive balance, but negative balance gave ponies self-thought and emotions, breaking a daily pattern of nothing happening within the world. This balance continues today, keeping both worlds in harmony."

Celestia stopped her story then. The ponies were listening, and Twilight seemed deep in thought, still confused.

"That's a good story and all but… it still doesn't make any sense! How does all this have anything to do with the disappearance of two ponies in two days?"

"Yeah, this was an interesting history lesson, but we're talking about ponies, not balance!" Rainbow Dash then said.

"I understand your confusion in the matter," says Luna, "but there is a very specific connection to these disappearances."

Celestia nods in agreement. "My sister is correct. Curses are permanent things, but a curse cannot exist without a way to break it. This one includes six individual ponies with certain personalities to break the curse."

"Six ponies…?" Twilight said in thought, she was all gathering this information within a small amount of time. "What personality traits are needed?"

"A warrior, a clown, a workman, a prideful pony, a beast, and an emotional pony. These are personality traits that strongly hold negative balance within them. The warrior personality is a pony that easily gets aggravated, one who is willing to fight anywhere and any place. We believe this is the guard who went missing."

"I figure that Pinkie Pie is the clown portion of that then?"

"I suspect so. A personality that is chaotic, uncontrollable and unpredictable, a pony with a personality without much sense or logic to it."

"Yeah… that's definitely Pinkie Pie… what about the other four?"

"A workman, a creator of many objects with progress and gaining experience."

"What does that have to do with negative balance?"

"Chaos is a part of negative balance, and chaos is a moving force as to harmony is a stable one. A workman would make progress with his work with great success, an ability given by chaos."

"Alright… and the others?"

"A prideful pony would be arrogant, self-centered. Thinking she or he is better than anypony else and will put others down to prove it."

"That sounds familiar…" Rarity says to herself.

"Sounds like Trixie." Rainbow Dash says with an irritated voice.

"Alright. What are the last two?"

"A beast would be somepony with a wild, aggressive, and hurtful personality. One that easily loses their temper and will hurt others to get their way."

"And the last one?"

"An emotional pony would be one who freely expresses how they feel. If they feel joyful they'll share that joy with everypony else, everypony will know when they are happy, and when they are feeling down or sad, they might isolate themselves. Emotions are one thing given to ponies by negative balance. These six ponies, if gathered together, have the power to free the Gargarath."

"I suppose that's a bad thing."

"If the Gargarath is released, then he will bring destruction to all of both worlds, destroying everything within both realms. Equestria needs your help again, girls, but this time Equestria isn't the only place in danger. This time, all the worlds within the Mystic Realm and the Earth Realm are counting on you."

"Princess… I feel like this isn't all… I feel like there is something else missing…"

"…You're right… there's something I haven't said yet."

"What is it?"

"A key. Even if all of the ponies representing negative balance were in one place, a key is needed to actually free the Gargarath. Somepony who represents positive balance, the very force that locked the Gargarath in the first place. I believe Allard to be this pony."

"What? Allard? There's no way… his personality is nothing like that of positive balance! If anything, he represents chaos and disorder more than anypony here!"

"I know, but think of it. Coming here was not his doing; he had to have been brought here by an outside source, a source within Equestria."

"You're saying the Gargarath brought him here?"

"I don't know enough to say for sure, but it's a possibility. Girls, I need you all to search for these ponies and bring them here to safety before they go missing. Their personalities will stand out from others, making them key targets."

"Yes princess. I still have a lot of questions but… it's best to save them for later… come on girls, we have to get back to Ponyville."

They began to head out to the chariots. Once they were in, the pegasi took off with them.

"Hey Twilight," Rainbow Dash says, "um… how are we going to find all of these ponies?"

"I… I really don't know… but I'll figure it out."


	11. Time To Help

Ponies didn't seem to mind me much; in fact, they barely paid any attention to me at all. They discarded me as some normal pony and went on with their business. I was actually enjoying the lack of attention, giving me time for me to think.

_Why am I here? How did I get here? How do I get back home?_ I kept thinking to myself. _Why do I keep having those dreams?_

It was now starting to get late, so I went back over to Twilight's house. I walked in, it was still unlocked; however, as I walked in, I noticed that Twilight had not yet returned. The sun was going down and it looked like they weren't back yet.

"Huh…?" I said quietly.

I looked over to the side to see Spike; he was sorting out some books that he had put in the wrong place earlier. He gave out a small, quiet yawn, almost undetectable. He looked like he was ready to get to bed, but wanting to finish this first.

"Hey, Spike, are Twilight and the others back yet?" I asked.

He yawned again and looked over at me.

"Oh, it's you. You know, you didn't have to yell at them like earlier today."

"I just asked you if they have returned or not." I said in an irritated voice.

"I know, calm down. I don't think they have. They're probably very busy at the castle."

"What are they…?"

"Who."

I was interrupted when I heard the sound of an owl. It flew up to Spike, taking a book from his hand, or claws, with its talons.

"Who who."

"Hey, Owlowiscious! I'm sorting these!"

"Who!"

"I am!"

"Who."

"I said I am!" The owl then pushed Spike towards the staircase, making another 'who' sound.

"Ugh… fine…" He yawns once again. "But those books better be in the right place…" He yawns again, but more noticeably this time. He then walked over to the stairs and walked up to his bed.

"Um…" I was confused from what I just saw, an owl just took a book from a dragon and… I think it told him to go to bed, too. The owl took the book that was in its talons and moved to another place in the shelves, placing it where it belongs.

"So… your name's Owlowiscious?"

"Who."

"You."

"Who who."

"You! Your name's… wait…" I sighed, feeling my hoof planted right on my face. "Oh… duh…" I was so used to animals talking that I had not realized that the owl wasn't able to talk like that. It looks like not all animals are able to talk after all.

I looked out the window with a curious look my face, ignoring the owl that went back to work.

"What are they doing out there?" I said, wondering why it was taking them so long to get back.

I decided to get some rest. I walked up the stairs and then over to my bed. I got myself under the covers, and then closed my eyes. After a few minutes I drifted to sleep, and then the dream continued.

* * *

I woke up in a long grassy hallway; the walls made of marble and covered with green vines and there was no ceiling, just a blue sky with some white clouds. I stood up and looked around; I was in a familiar place. I looked at my limbs and, just as expected, I saw hands, not hooves. I was human again, standing now on two feet. I was in the maze again, the Labyrinth of the Gargarath.

I continued down the straight hallway, shifting my feet slowly along the grassy ground. After a few minutes of walking, I got to a few doorways, four of them, two on each wall in front of me. I walked forward and went through the one on the right furthest from me. It was a curved hallway, and I walked down it again. When I began to hear the sound of shifting metal, that's when I stopped dead in my tracks.

I kept against the wall, I was next to a doorway and the sound of metal was coming from inside it. Loud footsteps slightly muffled by the dirt and grass floor, but metal shifted and scratched against itself with every step. Slowly, I edged myself to the doorway; I turned my head just enough to peek from the corner. It lead to another hallway the same as the one I was in now, curved and the doorway was at the wall, not the beginning or end of the hallway, and there I saw it.

A giant man, at least eight feet tall and five feet wide. He wore a suit of heavy metal armor that covered every inch of his body. He was walking away from my position, his back to me. It was obviously old; the metal armor seemed a bit worn, and covered in growing vines. Each step was heavy and slow, and he held a sword almost as tall as himself

I knew this was not good news, somehow I just knew that I don't want to face against this thing.

It stopped suddenly, and turned its head towards me, its armor helmet had long horns from the sides and it had very small openings where its eyes are to see, its eyes were blood red and glowing brightly. The moment I saw the armored face I turned back out of the doorway and out of view, my back against the wall again. I hoped it had not seen me; the hulking armored beast was twice my size! I knew it had seen me when I heard a metallic roar from its position, and loud metallic steps quickly coming towards the doorway next to me. I ran; I ran back the way I came, and behind me was the metallic beast chasing after me, I was surprised by how well it was keeping up with me, encouraging me to run even faster.

After a few minutes of rushing through other doorways and down halls to get away from the creature that could easily crush me like a grape, I tripped over my own feet. I lost my balance and fell flat on my face. I groaned in pain, I hit my knee on the ground hard. Instantly I looked behind me to see the armored beast right behind me; it raised its large blade and swung it down at me. I closed my eyes tightly and covered my body with my arms in a weak attempt to protect myself from the inevitable hit. I was scared, this was my end. It was now going in slow motion and for once I was thinking of someone other than myself. I thought of how the others, the ponies, seemed to care for me; no one had ever cared about me before. For a moment, I wished that I had been more kind to them. Maybe, just maybe, I would even be able to call them… friends, friendship that I would want to protect. It hit me, but something unexpected happened. Its sword hit something on my arm, bouncing off of it. I slowly opened my eyes and, on my arm, I saw a white shield. It was blurry and faded like an old photo, surging slowly with light. I was confused, and then I saw the beast raise its sword again. It swung its sword down again; I raised my small shield up and the same thing happened. The sword bounced off my shield and the monster stepped back from the force of its sword bouncing back; this amazed me.

I quickly got to my feet, my shield in hand. I was nervous, but I could stand against this beast, if only to deflect its attacks. It moved its sword once more and I then raised my shield at it. I don't know what's going on with this shield, but I am protected. If I can't beat it, I can at least use this shield to escape it more easily, protect my own life, and then it all went wrong. For unknown reasons, the shield disappeared, and the sword hit me hard, I felt the pain from the sword launch me into a wall in which I felt even more pain; that's when I woke up.

* * *

I gasped as I shot up to a sitting position on my bed, my eyes wide open and I was breathing heavily as if I had been holding my breath for hours. I looked around; I was in the library again. I sighed in relief and got out of the bed. Something caught my attention, downstairs there were murmured voices. I walked down the stairs slowly as to not interrupt the noise and saw Twilight speaking with Spike, they both turned to face me when I got down the stairs.

"Oh, Allard, it's good to see you," she said, "I need to tell you something."

"If you're going to try to talk me into helping with whatever issues you have, then forget it."

"But we really need your help, Celestia told us what's going on and she believes you really are involved with this and on our way back home we were-"

"Forget it, it's not my problem." I began to head towards the front door; however, the next thing she said stopped me.

"Please, Celestia thinks that the Gargarath is being set free by somepony."

I stopped right there. The Gargarath, that name sounded familiar. "Labyrinth of the Gargarath…" I murmured silently to myself, remembering the words on the maze entrance of which I wasn't sure how I was able to read.

"What was that…?"

I turned around and faced her. "What was that word you said?"

"Gargarath?"

"Yes, that one!"

"You… know about it?"

"Yes! Well, sort of… I've been having… strange dreams lately."

"What? What kind of dreams?"

"I've been dreaming about some sort of maze, a Labyrinth. There was something about it being called the 'Labyrinth of the Gargarath' or something like that…"

Twilight's eyes widened. She lowered her head and thought for a bit, looking to the side with her forehoof pressed below her muzzle.

"Allard, I want to talk to you about what we discussed with the princesses… will you please listen?"

I looked at her for a moment. It was possible that she had an explanation for my dreams; my curiosity compelled me to agree with her. I sighed, and then forced a response.

"If… if I really am somehow involved in this, then I guess it's best that I understand what's going on, eh?"

Twilight smiled at my response and nodded. "Yeah."

After that, we sat down in front of each other and began to talk. Twilight did most of the talking and I did most of the listening. She went on about the two brothers from a chaotic realm, splitting the realm into two separate ones. After a bit, she got to the fight, and the six personalities that were needed to release the Gargarath, and the Targawrath locked in a Labyrinth. Then she spoke of the key needed to fully free the Gargarath, and that it was possible that I was it.

When she finished, I began speaking. She asked me about my dreams and I answered by telling her that I was in the maze, the Labyrinth, how it felt so real and how I was human whenever I dreamt about it. I also said that it starts where it lasts ended. This set Twilight to think a bit, wondering what this is all about.

"What if… what if the labyrinth is hidden… within you own mind?"

"What…? That's impossible. You said that the labyrinth was made and hidden thousands of years ago; I'm nowhere near that old! There's no way it's within me, unless it can magically move, and it's already known that real magic doesn't exist in my realm."

"I know but it's the only real explanation we have right now. Think of it, the same power that locked away the Gargarath is needed to fully free him. The only power that's truly the same is the Targawrath himself! His soul, and therefore his power, must me hidden within your mind in a complex labyrinth; it would fully explain your dreams and why you have come here."

"How is that even possible, though? Also, why now? Why it is that am I having these dreams now and not before?"

"I'm not sure how the labyrinth would be in your mind, and I don't know why you're having these dreams now, but I have a feeling that the Gargarath somehow drew as much power as he could to bring you here. But there's one thing I can't get…"

"What is that?"

"Somepony, not the Gargarath, has to be the one doing the work. The Gargarath's body is stone, unable to move. Somepony must be serving him to free him."

"I don't get it, why would anypony WANT to free him?"

"I'm not sure. Allard, we need your help. I know you don't want to get involved, I understand, but please… we need you…"

I looked at her; she had a desperate, worried face. She should be worried, her whole world, all of our worlds, are in danger.

"I will help."

She smiled brightly, suddenly all my air was gone when I was embraced by a sudden, powerful hug. I winced; I could swear that my eyes would pop out if she didn't stop.

"Oh thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you!"

"Agh… choking… air… need…"

Twilight's eyes widened suddenly when she realized what she was doing, then let go of me. I fell with a large gasp for air.

"S-sorry… won't happen again…"

"Agh… so… what… do we do now?"

"Now, you need to get some sleep."

* * *

**A/N:** Thank you for reading, there are two more chapters coming up, they might be up tomorrow or even later today. Don't forget to review and tell me what you think.


	12. New Villian

The two chariots flew away from Ponyville, two ponies in each chariot while Rainbow Dash flew beside them. The four pegasi that guided the chariots had their eyes set forward towards their destination, not paying attention to the others.

"Hey Twilight," Rainbow Dash says, "um… how are we going to find all of these ponies?"

"I… I really don't know, but I'll figure it out."

"Well you better figure it out soon or we'll be in one heck of a mess." Applejack says.

"I know, I know. I just need time to think…"

Their talk was suddenly interrupted when the chariots shook violently with the sound of magic, stopping in midair.

"Agh! W-what the?!" Twilight looked forward to see the four pegasi suddenly frozen solid; the lack of them flying as well as the weight of the ice caused the chariots to begin to fall.

"What in tarnation?!"

As they fell, each one of them grabbed onto the chariots to keep themselves from free falling.

"I gotcha!" Rainbow says as she dashed towards them with the intent to stop the chariots. As she swooped down she misjudged how fast the chariots were falling, causing her to miss them, failing to catch anypony. "What the-! Hey!" She turned around, looking down at the chariots and flew down at them as fast as she could. "Hold on I'm coming!"

Rainbow Dash wouldn't be fast enough this time, the chariot was too close to the ground for her to catch up to them in time.

"Brace for impact, girls!" Twilight shouts.

They all hugged the chariots tightly; after a single moment, the chariots hit the ground hard, kicking up a thick cloud of dust and causing the chariots to make a ripping sound as they were torn apart by the impact. Rainbow dash flew down fast at them, looking very worried and unable to see past the thick dust cloud.

"H-hey! A-are you all okay?"

The sound of coughing was heard from the ponies as the thick cloud lifted. The chariots were totaled, and they were laying there in the rubble coughing from the dust. The pegasi were still frozen, laying on the ground with the ice over them a bit cracked, looks like the ice took most of their impact.

One by one they stood up; Twilight looked around to check on them, and then coughed again from the dust.

"I… I think we're okay…"

"Yeah, but it the chariots ain't…" Applejack says as she looks around at the debris.

"What happened?" Twilight asks.

"Oh, my mane!" Rarity yelps as she feels her mane with her hooves, feeling how frizzed and dusty it was from the impact. "It'll take hours to clean this out!"

"Rarity, I think that's the least of our-" Applejack began, but she was interrupted by somepony.

"Ow!" A small, timid voice let out. Everypony looked over to Fluttershy.

Fluttershy winced in pain, looking over her shoulder at her left wing, which was a bit mangled and the skin was very much bruised. It didn't look broken, but it was obviously painful to move it.

"Fluttershy!" Rainbow shouted as she flew over to Fluttershy. "Are you okay?!"

"My… my wing…"

"It doesn't look broken…" Twilight says as she walks closer. "But it still doesn't look good…"

"That wing should be the least of your worries." A male voice said, not far from their position.

They all turned their heads and, in surprise, saw a stallion with a greenish coat and a short red mane and tail. He had a horn as well, showing that he was a unicorn, explaining how the four pegasi were suddenly frozen.

"What?! Who are you?!" Rainbow huffed as she faced him.

"Who I am is not important. What is important is that you five are a threat to my plans; and so, I am here to get rid of you."

"Over my dead body!" Rainbow shouts as she suddenly flies towards him.

"Rainbow, wait!" Twilight shouts.

"Don't worry." His horn began to glow a blood red color. "That's the plan!" He stepped forward, firing a beam of red magic, hitting rainbow and sending her flying back, causing her to hit the ground hard and slide into a nearby tree.

"Agh!" Rainbow winced, she wasn't hurt bad, but the shot of magic made her feel like she was burned, even though she wasn't.

"Rainbow!" Twilight shouts at RD as she hits the ground, she then turns to the stallion. "Stop! We don't want to fight you!"

"That will just make finishing you off a whole lot easier." The stallion says before he steps forward and fires another, yet more powerful beam at Twilight.

Twilight quickly reacted, lowering her head and fired a beam of her own at him. The two beams met violently, two beams of magic being forced against each other, each with the intent to overpower the other. The beams kept still due to them having equal force.

"Why are you doing this?!"

"Once I release the Gargarath, I will be its servant! I will attain unlimited power and rule over both realms under his power! Who knows, I might even become powerful enough to overthrow him and rule over everything myself!"

Twilight felt him force more power into his magic, his beam drawing closer to her, she then began to force more magic into her own beam. Soon her beam began to overpower his, slowly moving towards the stallion as his beam of magic grew shorter. He looked surprised by this and put more force into his, but Twilight kept putting more magic into hers and soon, her beam overpowered his. His magic vanished from his beam and hers hit him directly, sending him flying straight into a tree. Twilight stopped and panted and looked unbalanced and a bit weak, tired from using that much magic in a short period of time. The stallion shook his head and stood up slowly, looking over at her with an angry look and out of breath as well.

"You… you're more talented with magic than I- OOF!" He was rammed into the tree again, but this time by Rainbow Dash. He hit the tree harder that time, hard enough for the tree to bend over a bit and shake off some leaves. Rainbow then flew back and the stallion fell to the floor in pain. "Ow…"

"And stay down!" Rainbow Dash says as she slowly flies back over to her friends.

Twilight then began to walk over to him. "If you plan to free the Gargarath, then you must be the one foalnapping ponies. In that case, I'll have to take you straight to Princess Celestia for her to decide what happens with you…"

"Ngg… that's… not going to happen." His horn glows red, gathering his magic. "Just know that… agh… that this is not the last time we see each other…" He then vanishes in a blast of red magic energy.

"Hey!" Twilight shouts. She rushed towards where he was before he disappeared, then looks around to see if he teleported anywhere close, but saw nothing. "Dang it! He got away…"

"Twilight, I think we should return to the princesses and tell them what just happened." Applejack suggests.

"No, we need to get home and get Fluttershy to the Ponyville hospital in order to get her wing properly looked at. I'll talk to Spike and have him send a letter to Celestia, inform her of what happened."

"Either way, how are we going to get home?" Rainbow Dash asks. "I mean, I could easily fly home, but Fluttershy's wing is busted and the rest of you don't even have any, and you don't look like you're in any condition to teleport that far, let alone bring the rest of us with you."

"I got an idea." Twilight Says.

Twilight walks over to the four frozen Pegasi; they looked alright, just frozen. She drew magic to her horn and began to cast a spell. She uses the spell on them and the Pegasi quickly defrosted. They all looked dizzy and confused, slowly getting onto their hooves.

"What… what happened? Where are we?" Asked the first pegasus, rubbing his head with a hoof. "I have a terrible headache…"

"It's a long story, but I need a favor from you four..."

Soon, the four pegasi were carrying the four flightless ponies home themselves, Rainbow Dash flying beside them. After about a half hour of flying, they were dropped off at Twilight's house, after which they instantly began flying back to Canterlot.

"I'll take Fluttershy to the hospital," Says Applejack, "you three go on home, I think we should talk about the situation later."

"I agree, I need to get home and fix my precious mane, and I have barely even started cleaning up my boutique!" Rarity says before trotting over down the road.

"I should get some rest, I've done a lot of flying today and I'm beat. What are you going to do, Twilight?"

"I'm going to just get a few hours to rest, Spike is probably still asleep, and so I'll have him make the letter tomorrow. See you then, Rainbow."

"See you then, Twilight."

Rainbow then dashes off to her own house. Twilight gave a quick sigh, looking up at the night sky's stars. "This situation is more difficult than I thought…" She says to herself before going into her house. "I really need to get Allard to help us…"


	13. Returning to the Labyrinth

**WARNING**

Mild Language

* * *

Soon, I was lying in the bed once again, only this time it was different, very different. I was in bed under the covered, and there were wires stuck to my head and chest and they were connected to a massive machine stationed next to me, whirling and beeping.

"Alright Allard, now just close your eyes and relax, get some sleep."

"Twilight, what's the point in all of this?"

"I'm going to monitor your brain activity as well as your heart rate. Once you enter the labyrinth again, I will be able to detect how you react out here while you explore it in there."

"That's nice and all, but how am I going to sleep? I just woke up not even a half hour ago and the whirling and beeping of this machine isn't going to make me any sleepier."

"Just close your eyes and relax. I know how to get you to sleep."

"Alright…"

I closed my eyes and calmed my mind. I was still wide awake, so it would take me a while to sleep on my own. I was unaware of exactly how she planned to get me to sleep, at least until the split second I felt it.

"Spike, now!" I heard her say

Suddenly, something hit my head hard and made a loud "Ding!" noise; I barely had enough time to feel it before I was knocked out, let alone time to figure out what it was that hit me.

* * *

I groaned in pain as I sat up, I rubbed the side of my head, still feeling the pain from whatever it was that hit me.

"Shit… what did you hit me with… huh?"

I opened my eyes and looked around, grassy hallway with marble walls, no ceiling. I was in the maze again.

"Oh… I guess it worked then… Damn, that felt like a frying pan or something."

I was more focused on the pain from the impact than I was on wondering how I'm still feeling it even while dreaming. I looked around again, seeing where I was. It looked like the same place where I last woke up. I then remembered that metallic beast that hit me and woke me up before. I took another look around me so make sure that it was no longer here, and it was not. With a sigh of relief, I picked myself up and stood. I thought for a moment, if what Twilight told me is true, then the Targawrath is in here somewhere, I just need to find him. I began to walk around, but more cautiously this time, that thing could be anywhere.

It felt like I was walking around in circles, just hallway after hallway and corridor after corridor. I was lost, and I stopped walking for a moment to catch my breath; I've been walking for a long time. After a moment of resting, I looked to the side, and there I saw and indentation in the wall, crushed as if something had been tossed against it.

"Wait…"

I was suspicious; I looked around the area. I saw a familiar placement of doorways and large footsteps from a massive, heavy creature running, this confirmed my position.

"I'm back where I started!" I shouted out.

I sighed, pressing my hand up against the wall and leaning against it. This was stressful, a life size maze and I'm going around in circles. My moments of stress and silence were broken when I heard a familiar sound. My head lifted itself and I looked over to the side. The armored beast was there again, and it was walking towards me.

"Shit!"

I ran the other way, but it was no use, the beast was running after me now, and gaining on me quickly. Unfortunately, I made a wrong turn and ended up in a dead end, and the beast was at the doorway on the other side of the hall. I turned to face it, its eyes glowed red and slowly walked towards me. I backed up until my back was pressed up against the wall behind me. I wasn't sure if I was going to die or just wake up again like I did before.

As it drew closer, I thought to myself. _Twilight is counting on me to get through this labyrinth, she trusts me right now. I can't let her down, not again_. I took a deep breath, and then stepped away from the wall. I built up courage and ran up to the beast. Right when I was in front of it, it swung its sword down hard. I lifted my arm; its sword bounced off a shield that suddenly appeared there.

"You will not stop me this time!"

I felt something appear in my other hand now. I was determined to face this monster, to get through this labyrinth. I swing my arm, and a sword similar to my shield slashed against the metallic beast, throwing it back even more. I took this opportunity to run past the beast, not curious about the sword and shield, just glad that they are there. I turned and swung my sword forward, striking the beast in the back. It roared in pain, and that's when I saw it fall to its knees painfully, and that's also when I drew back my sword and ran the other way. I continued down hall after hall, trying to find the exit without success. After maybe an hour of looking, I finally found it. At the end of a long hallway was a massive double door, decorated with many bright colors.

I recognized this as the door I had to go through, and so I began to walk towards it; however, my attempt was halted when I heard the roar again. I turned around and, when I saw the beast, began to run straight for the door. It chased after me, but I am so close to the door that I can't let it win. I ran and ran, it felt like I was running yet not getting any closer to the door. It was catching up quickly, but I was also almost there. I couldn't stop, not now. I could turn and face it, fight it to stop it from chasing me, but that would only delay me even more, I had to get through this door, and get through it now.

I kept on running, the creature now only a couple feet behind me. It now raised and swung down its blade; the blade was maybe an inch away from hitting me when I ran through the door. I literally ran through the door, it didn't even open, I just went through like it wasn't even there. I stopped all of a sudden and looked behind me to see if the armored beast was still chasing me, it was not. Behind me was the door I went through, a large double door that did not budge, like that creature couldn't pass through. I raised my hand and felt the solidity of the door, I wondered how I was able to pass through it like it was nothing, yet it was still a solid door.

Letting go of my curiosity over the door, seeing as this isn't much of a place for logic and reasoning, at least not my sense of logic and reasoning, I turned around towards the room I was now in. It was a large circular room; there were only two doors, the one I came through, and the one on the opposite end. It was by far the largest door, and most decorative. It was a massive double door, and each door had an image on it. They were both human shaped, if only slightly, and they faced each other. The one on the left side was the more human-like creature, but it could clearly be seen as anything but human. It had two pairs of feathered wings, but not like that of a bird or even an angel, they were shaped more like a parallelogram, two larger ones pointing upwards, two pointing downwards half the size of the others. The way they were shaped reminded me of a butterfly's wings, only they were pointed, not rounded, and they were also feathered. It didn't seem to have a pair of ears, or a nose or a mouth, its face just blank like that, but it did have eyes. And it also had two large, antenna-like feathers coming from its head, like the antenna of a moth. It looked like a calming creature, a gentle beast, and then I looked at the other door.

On the other door was a monstrous creature, only vaguely human-like. It had the face of what looked like a goblin with long pointed ears, yet it had two horns coming from its head, pointed behind it. It also had wings, but the wings and torso reminded me of a gargoyle. Its lower half was more dragon-like. It had a long tail, and its legs were that of a dragon's hind legs, its feet clawed as well as its hands. This creature didn't seem good at all. I somehow knew who was who. The one to the left was the Targawrath, and the one to the right was the Gargarath. I began to step forward, but then I stopped.

* * *

"Allard? Allard? Wake up."

I heard a voice, a familiar one. I slowly opened my eyes and turned to look at the source of the voice, there stood twilight, and behind her was her strange machine, shut off and put to the side. The floor was littered with various papers and those wires were off of my body. I sat up the best my pony body would allow me to and rubbed me head, still adjusting to the real world.

"Huh…? What… happened?" I said.

"Your breathing and heartbeat was going crazy as if you were running for your life! I thought you were going to have a heart attack or something! I've been trying to wake you up for the last five minutes, what happened in there?"

My hoof went back to the side of the bed, I looked up at twilight.

"I was… being chased…"

"By who or… what?"

"I don't know… some sort of massive, armored beast with a sword almost as tall as it is. I have no idea what it was, maybe a guard or something. Either way, it didn't want me there."

"So… what exactly happened?"

"Some sort of sword and shield appeared in my human arms. I was able to attack and fend it off for a bit. After a while I got to a hallway with a large door to the end. It chased me down the hall, but I managed to get through the door at the last second."

"And what did you see on the other side?"

"I don't remember… some sort of… big room… with another door… I saw some sort of mechanism on the door, but… I was too focused on the carvings on it to pay much attention to it."

"What carvings?"

"I… I don't know, people I think… my head still hurts…"

"Well… I think that's enough rest for you at the moment. Come on, lets regroup with the others."

"Yeah… okay…"


End file.
